Spring Harvest on Monte Verità,

The small Japanese-style tea garden on Monte Verità, Ascona, in the Swiss Alps, held its annual harvest during the first week of May. The 1,400 Japanese varietal plants are plucked each year by specialists from Japan.

The fresh leaf was processed to make 2 kg of Shincha, the first green tea of the season with two additional kilos made at the end of June. The tea has the characteristic steamed green aroma and flavor of Japanese teas. The garden does not grow tea commercially but is run as a study center where tea aficionados may learn more about cultivation of tea.

This year’s harvest was part of two days of tea events that included the actual processing of the tea, a tea market, and a Japanese Green Tea Ceremony in the garden’s Ceremony in the garden’s Teahouse Loreley.